How Do I Open This Thing Up?

[TheDutchGuy]

 

Some time ago I acquired a 1959 Parker 51 fountain pen that came with a matching mechanical pencil. The pencil works fine. By pressing the rear end I can move a pencil down and keep writing. The spring action seems to be OK. However I can't seem to open up this pencil at the rear. Which part is supposed to be detachable in order to re-fill the compartment with pencil sticks? Everything is super-tight and I don't want to damage anything.

 

Thanks!

[Aramchek]

On mine (from 1954 IIRC) you simply pull out the eraser. It is very picky when it comes to what 0.9mm leads it accepts, and I can't remember which brand turned out to work.

[TheDutchGuy]

Just the eraser or the eraser plus the metal cylinder that contains it?

[NinthSphere]

The knurled metal bit too, it's just a sleeve around the eraser. I use Staedler Mars Micro Carbon 0.9 in mine.

[pennylink]

Just the eraser or the eraser plus the metal cylinder that contains it?

 

The eraser plus the metal bit that holds the eraser in place.

[TheDutchGuy]

Thanks! Mission accomplished. Not easy. The eraser solidified over the years and attached itself to the knurled metal bit. It wouldn't budge and I had to use some glycerine to get it out.

[Autopoint]

I collect Autopoint + Realite + Realpoint mechanical pencils. Often they have an "open" eraser (no eraser cap) at the top. I learned early on that to keep my eraser holders (the "metal ferrule") from splitting, it was best to remove the erasers while the pencils were being stored for long periods. Apparently when the erasers are "young" and "green", they have a fair amount of fluid in the rubber. Over the years, as the erasers dry out, they tend to expand - and the force of that expansion can split the metal ferrule (if you follow ebay you can see many pencil pictures where the "ferrules" are split). I've gotten really good at replacing the split metal eraser holders ("ferrules") with a replacement from a donor pencil. Not difficult, just a pain in the keister.

- - - Jim